Tragedy in France: Eleven Passengers Dead in Skydiving Plane Crash

Eleven people have died after a civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in the town of Tomblaine in eastern France, local officials said.

The pilot and all ten passengers – five skydiving instructors and five first-time tandem jumpers – were killed. The light aircraft, operated by a parachuting school, had taken off from Nancy‑Essey airfield and crashed around 11:00 local time (10:00 BST).

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced that the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation. Officials noted that some relatives had watched the crash unfold while gathered at the airfield for the first‑time jumps.

Mayor Mathieu Klein of Nancy said several victims died “in full view of their loved ones.” The department president Chaynesse Khirouni warned that witnesses suffered “considerable psychological trauma”.

Medical and psychological support teams were dispatched to the site. The wreckage struck the ground near the edge of the airfield, close to a residential area and a shopping centre, narrowly missing nearby houses. Prefect Yves Seguy cautioned that a few metres could have caused collateral casualties.

Half of the deceased were nurses, as reported by local nursing organisation president Thierry Pechey, who described them as colleagues looking for a break during a severe heatwave.

The incident remains the deadliest private plane accident in French history, according to the Bea aviation safety agency. A tourist, who witnessed the aircraft’s veering, reported hearing the impact and saw flames shortly after.

Tomblaine Mayor Hervé Feron described the crash as an “unexplained, completely vertical fall” and said it was too early to speculate. Weather conditions were not yet determined as a factor, though the region was in an amber heatwave warning.

For more details, follow the investigation updates from the French authorities as the investigation proceeds.